The American campaign in Iraq that began in 2003 is officially over today, although 50,000 American “advisers” are still in the country training Iraqi army and security personnel. No one believes all the violence is over or that Iraq will not face grave challenges in the months and years ahead.
UPDATE — Sept. 1, 2010: Today’s New York Times contains coverage and analysis.
More on the history of American involvement in Middle Eastern affairs
“More than four months since the elections, a new government has yet to take shape,” says Joost Hiltermann, Middle East and North Africa Deputy Program Director at the International Crisis Group. ”What is holding things up… “he says, “is the fear among many Iraqis that whatever party wins the right to form the government and appoint the prime minister will proceed to concentrate power around itself, using gaps and ambiguities in Iraq’s new constitution to its advantage.”
In the wake of the withdrawal of American combat troops this past week, there are questions about what role the U.S. will play in future Iraqi affairs.
Joost Hiltermann, “Iraq: The Impasse,” New York Review of Books, Aug. 19, 2010
At least 51 Iraqi army recruits were killed in a suicide bombing in Baghdad. The attack comes at a time when the U.S. is set to end combat operations by the end of this month and at a time (five months after elections) when Iraqi politicians have yet to form a new government.
UPDATE August 25, 2010 — At least 40 were killed in a wave of coordinated attacks in various parts of Iraq further raising doubts about the ability of the Iraqi army and security forces to keep the country stable:
More than 45 people have been killed in bomb attacks in Baghdad this week during the annual Shiite pilgrimage to the shrine of Imam Moussa al-Kadhim.
The tiny village of Halaichiya in Eastern Iraq is made of 200 people, none of which have ever set sight on one of the 100,000 American soldiers or diplomats to visit the country, or any other type of American for that matter. The tiny village has yet to erase the images of the 1988 Iran-Iraq war from their memory, with landmines still killing buffaloes and the wind and rain has not corrected the military fortifications. The tiny village is made up of mud brick houses that are powered by the electricity of a generator that is run for a couple hours every night.
This photo essay shows the beauty of this little village that has eluded the violence of the “War of Terror.” Halaichiya is one of the still peaceful villages in Iraq that has not felt or seen the violence that makes the front page of papers around the world. This remarkable place is an important reminder of why the United States invaded Iraq in the first place: for the people who are struggling to make it.
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/01/28/world/0129IRAQ_index.html
On Tuesday, April 6th, there were eight deadly explosions throughout multiple neighborhoods in Baghdad, Iraq. Just in today’s events, there have been 35 people pronounced dead, and over 140 wounded. These bombings occurred at residential buildings in Sunni and Shiite areas of Baghdad. There were two car bombs that detonated in Chkook, the Khadamiya district, which resulted with at least 5 people killed. Another car bomb exploded in the western Shula district. Several people also died there. Shula, a predominately Shia neighborhood, used to be a former stronghold of the Mahdi Army. There is currently investigation to see if there may be any ties between the bombings and the Mahdi army. There was another suicide bomber who detonated explosives on Haifa street in Baghdad, near the national museum. The Iraqis are very upset that so many events occurred in one day. According to Iyad Allawi, the former prime minister, “Government officials hold responsibility for not achieving security”. People are frustrated, because in the past four years there have not been strong efforts to develop a strong security system in Iraq. This article also points out that within the past five days, the attacks have left more than 100 people dead. On Sunday, there were 3 suicide bombs that detonated near foreign diplomatic missions. This attack killed 30 people, and left hundreds wounded. The investigators are currently in the process of trying to see who was behind these attacks, and if the attacks that occurred on Sunday have any relation to the attacks today.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/04/2010467284376679.html
By Tim Arango
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/world/middleeast/01iraq.html?hp
Moktada al-Sadr, the Shi’ite cleric from Iraq that is training to become an Ayatollah in Iran, made plans to set up a referendum to select Iraq’s next prime minister. He wrote in a statement, calling to put the “choice of prime minister in to the hands of the Iraqi public through a referendum for all Iraqi people.” I am very aware to respond favorably to this news as al-Sadr has proven himself in Iraq to be a dangerous, militant force. They will hold the election on Friday and Saturday and choose between five candidates. The ballots have already been printed. “The five are Ayad Allawi, the former interim prime minister whose Iraqiya coalition won the most seats in the recent election; the current prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki; a former prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari; Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi; and Muhammad Jaffar al-Sadr, a newcomer…” I think a referendum will embrace democratic values trying to be fostered in the new country.
It is becoming clearer and clearer with each passing day (and certainly since our discussion in class the other day) that the Sadr Bloc has emerged as the potential new kingmaker in Iraq. Analyst Juan Cole writes:
“It seems unlikely that anyone can become prime minister without the Sadr Bloc, now the majority component inside the Iraqi National Alliance. Sadr may well demand as a quid pro quo for joining any Iraqi government that the new PM pledge to accelerate the timetable for US troop withdrawal from Iraq, and also promise to end that troop presence altogether.”
Juan Cole’s Blog, “Informed Comment,” March 27, 2010
See more on the pivotal status of the Sadrists in Cole’s March 28 blog entry
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